LUGANSK, October 1. /TASS/. Over 150,000 residents of Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) received Russian citizenship via a simplified procedure, LPR head Leonid Pasechnik announced Thursday.

"A Russian Federation passport has been obtained by 150,000 residents of our republic," Lugansk Media Centre quotes Pasechnik as saying. "The number of papers filed for citizenship of both the LPR and the Russian Federation indicates that the demand does not dwindle."

The authorities of the republic and its officials do everything they can to make the process of obtaining LPR and Russian passports "as easy, efficient and accessible as possible," Pasechnik noted.

On April 24, 2019, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed an order, allowing LPR and DPR residents to obtain Russian citizenship via a simplified procedure; one year later, the state fee for the Russian passport was cancelled.